Bagnaia clinches world championship in Sepang, Marini takes first win

Francesco Bagnaia has been crowned the 2018 Moto2 world champion in Malaysia, finishing 3rd at the Sepang International Circuit. His Sky VR46 teammate Luca Marini won his first Moto2 race after leading from the start, with championship challenger Miguel Oliveira finishing 2nd.

Despite Alex Marquez starting from pole, it was Marini that led the field after the first corner. Marquez ended up down in 8th place after he had to take avoiding action due to an optimistic lunge from Fabio Quartararo.

Bagnaia was in 2nd at the beginning of the race, soon caught by Oliveira. They were battling for 2nd place for some laps, which allowed Marini to pull a gap almost immediately. Oliveira was eventually able to maintain the 2nd place and close the gap to Marini, however was unable to pass him to keep his championship hopes alive.

Remy Gardner showed very good pace in the first few laps, momentarily passing Oliveira for 3rd and sitting in 4th for a number of laps. Eventually, he was passed by Marquez and crashed out of what would’ve been a strong points finish.

Marquez finally finished down in 7th, despite having the best pace all weekend and starting from pole. His race pace simply wasn’t up to that of the leading 4, and Lorenzo Baldassarri and Quartararo both passed him in the final laps.